Archive for April, 2012

Tim Hudson had only hit 99 batters before yesterday, but in the first inning against Pittsburgh one of his pitches found its way into the body of Andrew McCutchen, making Hudson the 84th pitcher in major league history to hit 100 batters. He’s also the first pitcher since Greg Maddux to cross the 100 plunk barrier while pitching for the Braves, and that pitch tied Greg Maddux’s record for plunks at Turner Field. Maddux and Hudson are now share the park record with 26 plunks each.

There were only 3 other plunks in yesterday’s baseball action. Steve Delabar hit Edwin Encarnacion in Toronto, making that was the 11th plunk thrown by a Mariners pitcher, and giving Seattle the league lead in hitting batters. Mike Napoli was plunked by Fernando Rodney, extending the Rangers streak of games with an HBP to four. And Mike Moustakas got hit by a pitch, and nobody freaked out and ran onto the field and danced around this time.

34hbp – Phil Garner, born 04/30/1949, 803rd all time, played from 1973 to 1988
34hbp – Charley Jones, born 04/30/1850, 803rd all time, played from 1875 to 1888
16hbp – Jeff Reboulet, born 04/30/1964, 1744th all time, played from 1992 to 2003
10hbp – Chet Laabs, born 04/30/1912, 2441st all time, played from 1937 to 1947
4hbp – Joe Strain, born 04/30/1954, 3781st all time, played from 1979 to 1981

Johnny Cueto and the Reds faced Travis Buck and the Astros at Great American Ballpark yesterday, and as you might expect from where you’re reading it, Buck got hit by a pitch. That was Cueto’s 5th plunk this year to lead the league. Nobody has hit 5 batters in April since 2010, and no pitcher for the Reds has hit 5 in April in the last 40 years. The Reds franchise record for hit batters in a season is 23 Jake Weimer in 1907. The Astros have only hit 3 batters this year, but Cueto has hit 5.

Stephen Strasburg hit two Dodgers, bringing his career total to 3 hit batters. Jerry Hairston Jr. was one of those two batters, and that was his 82nd career plunk.

Colby Lewis‘ plunking of Luke Scott yesterday means that pitchers born in 1979 have now hit 1200 batters.

49hbp – Kelly Shoppach, born 04/29/1980, 417th all time, played from 2005 to 2012
28hbp – Rick Burleson, born 04/29/1951, 1036th all time, played from 1974 to 1987
28hbp – Ed Charles, born 04/29/1933, 1036th all time, played from 1962 to 1969
27hbp – Luis Aparicio, born 04/29/1934, 1087th all time, played from 1956 to 1973
27hbp – Amby McConnell, born 04/29/1883, 1087th all time, played from 1908 to 1911

The Milwaukee Brewers continued to stay hot in the HBP column last night, extending their league leading plunk total to 13. Alex Gonzalez got plunk number 78 of his career on Jake Westbrook‘s 51st plunk, and Nyjer Morgan recorded the 39th of his career on the 40th plunk ever issued by JC Romero. Gonzalez’s plunk was the 1,900 in Brewers franchise history, so the Brewers franchise now stands at 1.901 kiloplunks.

Joe Mauer doesn’t get hit by a lot of pitches, but last night’s plunk from Jose Mirajes was Mauer’s 6th at Target Field. No other player has been plunked more than 3 times at the Twins new park. Mauer has a career total now of 16 HBPs.

Carlos Zambrano extended his Venezuelan hit batters record to 93 last night, hitting Justin Upton, and moving a step closer to the 100 plunk club.

Jonathan Herrara took a plunk for the Rockies in yesterday’s game, making that the 4th straight game in which a Rockies batter has been hit by a pitch. The Rockies have gotten to 5 consecutive games with a plunk 3 times in team history, but they’ve never been hit in 6 consecutive games.

55hbp – Barry Larkin, born 04/28/1964, 327th all time, played from 1986 to 2004
12hbp – Jackie Brandt, born 04/28/1934, 2158th all time, played from 1956 to 1967
9hbp – David Freese, born 04/28/1983, 2596th all time, played from 2009 to 2012
7hbp – Luis Quinones, born 04/28/1962, 2946th all time, played from 1983 to 1992
4hbp – Red Lucas, born 04/28/1902, 3780th all time, played from 1923 to 1938
4hbp – Mike Chartak, born 04/28/1916, 3780th all time, played from 1940 to 1944
4hbp – Russ Morman, born 04/28/1962, 3780th all time, played from 1986 to 1997

At Tropicana Field yesterday, the Angels were visiting the home team, and going into the game the Rays had been hit by 799 since they joined the league in 1998. In the 2nd inning, Jerome Williams hit BJ Upton marking plunk number 800 for the Rays. BJ Upton has been on the batter 2.25% of the occasions when a Rays batter was plunked. Upton’s 18 plunks rank him 13th in the Rays franchise history, tied with Julio Lugo.

78hbp – Frank Catalanotto, born 04/27/1974, 159th all time, played from 1997 to 2010
48hbp – Rogers Hornsby, born 04/27/1896, 437th all time, played from 1915 to 1937
37hbp – Enos Slaughter, born 04/27/1916, 700th all time, played from 1938 to 1959
24hbp – Hy Myers, born 04/27/1889, 1219th all time, played from 1909 to 1925
23hbp – Willie Upshaw, born 04/27/1957, 1270th all time, played from 1978 to 1988

Jason Giambi is still playing major league baseball, in case you hadn’t heard from him in a while, and yesterday he was hit by a pitch. That was his 174th career plunk, and that’s the 12th best plunk total ever achieved and the 2nd best plunk total ever achieved by a left handed batter. He’s only 9 HBPs behind Jake Beckley, who currently ranks as the most plunked left handed batter ever, with 183.

76hbp – Jack Barry, born 04/26/1887, 173rd all time, played from 1908 to 1919
38hbp – Joe Crede, born 04/26/1978, 662nd all time, played from 2000 to 2009
33hbp – Amos Otis, born 04/26/1947, 828th all time, played from 1967 to 1984
33hbp – Geoff Blum, born 04/26/1973, 828th all time, played from 1999 to 2012
29hbp – Sean Rodriguez, born 04/26/1985, 995th all time, played from 2008 to 2012